Chapter 11
It was nearly dawn by the time Emma finally decided to give up on the search for the runaway mail truck. Killian had fallen asleep in the passenger seat hours ago, but Emma just hadn't been able to accept that she had been so close and yet still managed to fail again. It also just seemed ridiculous to her that the bulky white truck could have just disappeared somewhere in this town.
Not wanting to wake her sleeping pirate, Emma continued to drive around town aimlessly and tried to organize her thoughts. When her cell phone rang shattering the silence of the quiet car Emma nearly drove the car off the road. Killian woke with a start just as she screeched the car to a halt and grabbed the phone.
She answered the phone with a breathless hello, but was interrupted before even getting the words out.
"Mom! I found him!" an excited Henry screeched into the phone. "He's here at the – UGH!"
"Henry?!" Emma cried in alarm. As she listened to what she could only identify as a struggle on the other end of the phone she continued to try to get a response from her son. "Henry! Where are you?! What's going on?!"
When the phone went dead in her hand the sounds of her anguished scream reverberated into the night as she tried to control the shaking of her hands enough to get the car back into motion.
"Emma! Love! Talk to me," Killian said as he gently grabbed her hand off the wheel. 'What is going on?"
"Something happened to Henry!" Emma exclaimed with a gasp. "He called saying that he found him and then he got cut off. Like someone was attacking him!"
Emma pulled her hand away from his grasp and turned her attention to getting the car going as fast as she could. As soon she screeched to a stop in front of the Mayor's mansion, Emma jumped from the car and ran up to the front door. Finding it locked, she began pounding on the door frantically until a freshly awoken Regina threw the door open in frustration.
"This better be important Swan because so help me—" Regina began.
"Where is Henry?!" Emma shouted as she pushed past the queen and made her way through the house.
"He's sleeping! Where else would he be?!" came the shrieked response.
Emma threw open the door to Henry's room and ran to his bed to reveal the pillows stuffed under the blankets meant to resemble his sleeping form. Both women could only stare in horror at the empty bed until Killian appeared at the doorway.
"What a clever, lad," Killian whispered sadly.
Regina turned on him and said in a deadly voice, "Clever? Clever?! What do you mean by clever pirate?!"
Taking a small step back, Killian raised his gaze to meet hers and said, "I'm afraid the lad may have gone rogue. He was so desperate to help that I fear he may have gone searching for the monster tormenting his mother on his own."
"How dare you bring Henry into all of this?!" Regina yelled as she rounded toward Emma. "I thought I had drilled it into your thick skull just how dangerous this buffoon was! If anything happens to MY son because of your stupidity, I promise that you will never lay eyes on him again!"
"This isn't –" Killian began.
"Zip it, Hook!" Emma barked. "I will find him, Regina. Then after I fail to master this spell and defeat the Sandman you'll finally get what you want…me out of both of your lives permanently!"
Without waiting for a response, Emma sprinted out of the room, down the stairs and through the front door of the house. Just before she reached her car Killian caught up to her and grabbed her by the non-injured arm.
"Wait!" Killian pleaded. "Let me help!"
"You have done enough," she growled shaking him off. "I need to find my son."
Leaving a dejected looking Killian standing on the curb staring after her as Emma stomped off to her car and sped away.
Killian fought off the urge to throw the cell phone Emma had given him under his boot as yet another one his attempts to get in touch with her went unanswered.
"Still nothing?" David asked from across the small space of Regina's hidden vault.
"She won't bloody answer," Killian responded trying to keep himself from hitting something. "How much longer does she have before that damn tea wears off?"
Regina looked up from where she was diligently working on the locator spell to find Henry and said, "I don't know! It's not an exact science, pirate. Usually it is around 48 hours, but it varies from person to person. With the way that she has been exerting herself I would give her several hours at most."
Suddenly feeling as though he was suffocating, Killian turned and stumbled out of the tomb and into the fresh air outside. As he gulped in air, he was shocked to feel the hand on his shoulder.
"Hey," David said softly. "We will find her. I promise. Right now she would want us to focus on finding Henry before we go looking for her."
Killian sighed. "I don't mean to sound insensitive here, mate, but I'm a tad more worried about Emma than I am Henry. I don't think this monster is planning on harming his hostages or else he would have done so already. He has already hurt Emma several times now. So what happens when this tea wears off and she can no longer stay awake? Who knows what could happen to her without someone there to wake her or to know if she was successful in casting that damn spell to expel him from her dreams?!"
David exhaled forcefully and say, "You're right." Killian looked up in disbelief. "Once the potion is complete, we'll split it and send two teams out to look for both Henry and Emma. I will –" Interrupted by the shrill ringing of his phone, David took a deep breath and answered, "Sherriff Nolan."
Killian could tell immediately that something was wrong as he watched the color drain from the sheriff's face. What else could possibly be thrown at them this morning? It was all getting to be too much. He couldn't wait to get his hands on this dream walking villain in hopes of being able to release some of his pent up aggressions.
"Hook! Let's go!," David said as he hung up the phone and began jogging towards where he parked his truck. "Looks like we can call off the search for Emma. Someone just called reporting that they saw her car in a ravine across town."
"Bloody hell." Once again Killian found himself fighting off the panic that was rising up in his chest. He never trusted those blasted vehicles that raced around everywhere in this world and was now accosted with troubling thoughts regarding the various horrible conditions they could possibly find Emma in.
Luckily it did not take them long to arrive at the location where the crash had been reported. When David screeched the truck to a halt, Killian jumped out of the vehicle and ran to the side of the road where he could just see the black rubber of her tire protruding into the air. The car lay on its roof with the motor still running.
With a strangled cry, Killian half ran half slid down the steep embankment to the driver's side door of the yellow bug. Peering in through the shattered window, he was devastated to see an unconscious Emma hanging upside down from the seat she had been strapped into. The blond hair on the side of her head that was visible to him was matted with blood. He grabbed onto the door handle and yanked at the door.
"The damn thing won't open," Killian yelled as David joined him at the car.
"Just hang on, Hook," David exclaimed. "We need to be careful about doing anything that might hurt her more!" He stepped around Killian and reached into the car.
"Emma…" Killian whispered. He grabbed the sleeve of David's shirt. "Is she…?"
"She's alive," came the relieved response. "I have the ambulance crew on the way. I don't want to try to get her out of here without them stabilizing her first."
Determined to do something, Killian stood and carefully made his way over to the other side of the upturned vehicle. Opening the passenger door, he cautiously climbed his way halfway into the car ignoring the protests from David. Being careful not to jostle her around, Killian takes her hand and holds it is his own.
"You need to get out of there," David said from outside of the car. "It's not safe."
"She needs to know I'm here," Killian responded softly. "Or maybe I need to know she's here. Regardless, mate, I'm not leaving her in here alone."
Killian sat quietly holding her hand and wishing for nothing more than for Emma to wake up. He knew that she would still be angry with him for his role in putting Henry in danger, but at least that would mean that she would be awake and well. He's take that any day to his sitting idly by while she remained trapped in this metal prison.
He reluctantly removed himself from the vehicle when the rescue crew arrived. He paced back and forth back up on the road by David's truck as they waited for the crew to emerge with Emma. He wished he could help in some way down there, but he knew that this was a bit out of his element. The longer he waited the more frustrated he became.
Just before he was ready to charge back down into the ditch and demand to help, David grabbed his arm and said, "We have to go. Regina knows where Henry is. We are going to go meet her."
"We can't leave," Killian protested. "What about Emma?!"
"She's in good hands. Snow is headed to the hospital now to be there when the ambulance gets in," he replied. Sensing the pirate's continued hesitation he continued, "There is nothing else we can do here. The best way to help Emma now is to find this guy and put an end to his terrorizing."
Realizing that the prince was right, Killian glanced back down at the scene of the wreck where the crew was securing a still unconscious Emma to a stretcher and then turned to let him himself into the truck. It was time to let this dream demon know just who it was that he was messing with. If there was one thing Captain Hook was notorious for it sure wasn't his leniency or restraint.